Readers sound off: Hillary Clinton lost the election on her own

In an exclusive interview with USA TODAY, Hillary Clinton said she is now convinced that associates of candidate Donald Trump helped Russia meddle in the 2016 presidential election. Comments are edited for clarity and grammar:

Clinton hasn’t accepted responsibility. If you take responsibility, you don’t point fingers.

— Chad Clausen

What happened to being the graceful loser? It seems like every month she finds someone else to blame for her loss.

The Trump campaign probably colluded with Russians before to the 2016 election. Together they stole all the maps of the U.S., so the Clinton campaign was unable to see that there are states connected to the Great Lakes. The Clintons had no choice but to visit California repeatedly and make derogatory statements about working-class families. Impeach President Trump, now. It’s the only way we, and Hillary, can move on.

— Eric Wittman

It must be horrible to be very intelligent and yet vilified by so many that only know from what others tell them. Politics can be so ugly.

Russians hacked into the Democratic National Committee accounts and paid for Facebook ads directed at certain minds. The chumps in Trump’s campaign team were identified by Russians, and they were fed lies and propaganda.

This was a very calculated attack on U.S. democracy. Clinton is right. This is not a partisan issue. This is about our country losing its democracy.

She still has no clue why people rejected her. It was Sen. Bernie Sanders, it was former FBI director James Comey, it was Matt Lauer, it was the Russians, it was the DNC, it was Santa’s elves, etc. Clinton lost for one reason: She focused her attention on the liberal elites and identity politics. It can be summed up in her comment that half of Trump supporters are a basket of deplorables.

— David Nelson

There's no doubt for me Clinton would have lost the election anyway while Sanders might have beaten Trump.